Leonard Church, the former two-term Kennesaw mayor and city council member, is receiving a monthly city pension despite his conviction last year on charges of child molestation and sexual exploitation of children that sent him to prison for 18 years.
Church, 67, pleaded guilty to the charges in December on the day his trial was scheduled to begin.
Prosecutors said Church twice molested a 9-year-old boy after showing him pornographic images of children. The boy was injured while being molested, but prosecutors reduced the charge of aggravated child molestation — and its minimum 25-year prison term — in exchange for the guilty plea. Investigators allege they found neary 1,000 child porn images on computers in Church's home.
Kennesaw Councilman Jim Sebastian, elected to the council with Church in 2013, said he became aware of the pension payments after a question from a resident.
Sebastian said there is nothing the city can do to stop the payments, but city council has taken an initial step to remove future elected officials from the city’s pension system. Sebastian said Church’s pension payments actually began in 2013, meaning he was double-dipping a pension payment and a $1,000-per-month council salary for a full two years.
“I knew he was eligible and could be drawing it if he wanted to,” Sebastian said of Church’s pension. “He met the letter of the law.”
Church continued serving on the city council for months after his June 2014 arrest on the charges. He was indicted in January 2015.
As part of a probation modification, Church was allowed to enter the council chambers through a back door, stay for meetings behind the dais, then leave immediately afterward. Citizens repeatedly expressed outrage during council meetings that Church continued serving with the charges hanging over his head.
Jimmy Berry, Church’s attorney, asked for the modification in a court filing: “As a council member, the defendant could enter through a non-public entrance and participate in the meetings and then leave through the same non-public entrance. Defendant would be physically separated from the audience by a long podium and would have no contact or interaction with audience members.”
Berry did not return a message left at his law office on Friday.
Former Mayor Mark Mathews, who defeated Church in the 2008 mayoral election, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in December that he privately asked Church to step down, to no avail.
“We have no penalty provisions in place for us to do to each other, ” Mathews said. “We can’t do anything to each other.”
The council and new mayor Derek Easterling have taken steps to solve that issue, Sebastian said. The council changed the city charter earlier this year so that any elected official indicted on a felony is automatically suspended without pay pending resolution of the criminal case. If the official is acquitted, Sebastian said, they are given back pay.
It is unclear how much Church collects from his city pension, but Bill Harris said he was told by city officials that the range is $585-650 per month. Harris has kept a blog on the Church situation for about two years.
Sebastian wrote on his city web-page that he would post the amount of the pension payments as soon as he gets an official figure from the city's consultant.
When asked for his reaction to Church drawing a city pension, Harris said: “You can’t print it in the newspaper. It’s unquotable.”
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